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Back to Safer Schools: Twitter Town Hall on August 20

Submitted on Fri, 2014-08-15 17:26 by Keith Benjamin

As recent incidents in communities across the country highlight, community safety and gun violence affect whether or not families can safely access opportunities for physical activity. As schools all over America reopen their doors, parents and children in many neighborhoods are talking together about balancing physical activity and safety, and the need for communities that support both.

We are talking about this with our partners in a Twitter Town Hall next week #Back2SaferSchools.

Join us on August 20th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern as Safe Routes to School National Partnership joins Generation Progress, The League of Young Voters Education Fund, and Million Hoodies Movement for Justice for ‪#‎Back2SaferSchools Twitter Town Hall to mobilize and empower advocates in tactics and resources in making our communities and schools safer.

As community voices are being heard, we are seeing positive momentum in addressing community safety and creating safe places for all. Making sure healthy community design is present in all communities is core to the mission of the National Partnership.

Why is this crucial? Look at the facts: Despite the presence of gang hot zones, stray dogs, and the fear of law enforcement that pervades some communities, twice as many low income children walk and bike to school than their affluent counterparts. In regions with significant percentages of families below the poverty line, the pedestrian fatality rate is more than 80 percent higher than the national average. Each year, Latino communities experience 45.5 more crimes per acre compared with White communities, and parents report violence and crime as one of the five primary factors affecting children's walking or biking. We need to make sure that kids and parents can walk and bicycle without worry about crime or violence in all of our communities.

Join us for the ‪#‎Back2SaferSchools Twitter Town Hall on August 20 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern to continue the conversation and mobilize and empower advocates in tactics and resources in making our communities and schools safer.